Is it possible to make a single-faced cylinder in Blender?
Cylinders have as many faces as you accept when you create them.  Reduce the number of faces when you create a cylinder.  Have the information panels open when you create the cylinder so you can see the information. Press T to show and hide the panel.

You can render a 3D view as a png with a transparent background.  So you could apply the texture to a single plane with little geometry if that suits your situation.